After a long night out with my mate Alex ZTO, it’s time to wake up and make the hike shuttle leaving at 5:00am. Last time around, I didn’t get to hike to one of the most active volcanoes in the world but this time, I am not giving it a chance to run away. I signed up two days ago and got some details about the easy hike to the lookout of the volcano santiaguito. Locals say it erupts every 40 minutes so if there are no clouds, hikers get to see at a couple of eruptions. The hike to the lookout took about 1.5hours to an elevation of about...

Quetzaltenango is the second largest city in Guatemala; 225,000 people, 61% indigenous & 34% mestizo. It is at 2,330m or 7,655ft altitude, and so is often used for high altitude (read no oxygen !) athletic training. Quetzaltenango is the name the Spanish led indians gave to it in the 17th century. The local Mayans called in Xela; pronounced shay-la. Often times these towns in the highlands with a strong Mayan presence go by two names - the Spanish Indian name, and the Mayan. The city bustles with activity during the day with local produce...

This is it people. Im done today. It has been a very wonderful and long 3 weeks in which i have battled the flu, my lack of spanish vocabulary and the struggles of being a solo explorer.
My language skills have improved tremendously and I am thankful to the fine maestros en Xela para ayudarme.
I am on my way to Guate tonight then should be back home on Sunday. I am once again in a rush to catch my next ride so ill post more when I settle down. Thanks for reading and keeping up with me. Buenos suetes para sus vidas
L.C.

I'm in pain from the flu. I could use some soup. It was a ruff new year given that I was under the weather and missed out on all the fun. On the bright side, I feel like I am slowly gaining my energy back. I just hope I will have it all by Friday before my trip back home. As my cravings for home mode chicken soup rose, I went to the local tourist spot to get some. It wasnt like the one momma makes but it was good enough to hold me till I see her again.
Happy new year to you all. I hope last year was a stepping stone for greater things for...

cough cough. .....dammm but i have been taking my vitamins. Damm Gripe!!. My host mom had the cold(gripe) and i thought it would skip me but she passed it on to me with love at very bad timing. During the week, I made plans with Amigo Pako to play some sports and I had no intentions of letting this sickness sow me down.
On saturday, I played basketball with some all stars here then some American football on Sunday. It wasnt really a fair game given that i was almost 50% bigger and quicker but it was still a good workout. The altitude...

As my final week here approaches, i have began to evaluate how much Spanish I have actually absorbed. My teacher this week gives a lot of homework which i like but it can be a little over whelming with all the other activities i am engaged in. However, I feel as though it is equipping me with the necessary materials to speak Spanish using the correct grammar. I think by far, my biggest disappointment is not remembering most of the vocabulary i knew a year ago. This is the down side to postponing this trip for such a long time. Tonight is...

Long weekend personnel
Ok where do I start documenting my looooooong strange weekend and the Navidad. Should I start at the top of the Mount Quemado or Baul or at the point where i had to hang on to a railing outside a bus for an hour as we drove and bribed the police officers. Hmmmmm lets just go to the genesis of it all....
FRIDAY
Ok so on Friday, we had a graduation dinner for the students who were leaving to go back home/travel around. The students brought the drinks and the teachers brought the food. There was a lot of singing,...

Sometimes, i wonder what the world will be like without the conquest of Africa and the Americas. I wonder about the validity of the evolution theories i learned about last semester. i wonder how the world will be like if back in the day, we just accepted every group´s religion rather than forcing other beliefs on them. Learning about the history of the indigenous people of the Americas here in Xela, it makes me wonder more and dig into a deeper part of my ancestry. Before the white man docked on our golden coast, we worshiped the earth and...

Last night, after a wonderful dinner with friends of my host family, i accompanied them to church. I understood some of what the preacher was saying but not all of it. They also taught me a few Mayan words. Also the trip to the chocolate making house was amazing i had nooo idea the Mayans were such a sophisticated group. I am on my way to a Mayan village now so dont have time to say much. Ill try to post up more pictures tomorrow after my hike to baul., The highest peak in xela

I never knew there could be anything like tooo much Spanish. This is sooo hard. I have to carry a dictionary around just to be able to function lol. My teacher advised me to go to Tikal for the weekend given that there is a once in a million year Mayan ceremony there in which the mayans will reset the Mayan calendar. Ill make calls to the bus companies to see if there are any tickets left then i will try to talk to a few people to see who might be interested in going else ill travel solo. This should be interesting. I had the best hot...

Ok so todays was great. It soooooo cold in the morning. I hate adiabatic cooling!! The weather at night and in the morning is buffalo cold with nooo heaters. I went to bed in thermals last night looking like the Michelin man. At noon, it got Ghana hot so I began sweating bullets. During my 5 hour class, we evaluated my level of comprehension and talked a bit about my plans for the next three weeks. It sucks that i can’t remember all the vocabulary i knew last year but on the bright side, im going to do just right. I met my host family last...

After a 4 hour bus ride up and down mountains, I have arrived in Xela at last. Shared the bus ride with 4 other wonderful Spanish learners- one going to volunteer at a medical facility and 2 Brits ( A mom and daughter who continued on to the mountain school). Unfortunately, the school isn't open for another hour so I'm sitting in a hostel across from it chatting with other people here to learn Spanish. Xela is a small town with colonial vie to it. So far, so good. The wifi here isn't that good but ill try to update as much as possible....